#SavingSydneysTrees is a grassroots movement inspired out of the devastating & continued loss of Sydney's most majestic trees.
This campaign is aimed at raising and building public awareness on the extensive loss and damage to trees and along the route of Sydney's $2.1billion light rail line to the city’s eastern suburbs.
Our message is simple: ‘Trees and light rail can co-exist. We just need a better solution!’
We’re working toward achieving a loud and strong community voice against the current destruction, including a NSW parliamentary inquiry into the poor planning and public consultation process that allowed the plan to go ahead
This campaign is about getting the NSW government to “Press Pause” on any further destruction of these iconic trees in our beautiful city and ensuring this green legacy is protected for future generations.
Already we have lost many trees - but many more are still on death row or facing canopy and root pruning.
Join us to urge Premier Mike Baird to take stock and listen to a city that is horrified not only by the prospect of their loss but also the devastating environmental flow-on effects for our city.
Our aim is to also make sure good governance and planning protections are in place to ensure today’s mistakes aren’t repeated tomorrow.
Why are we doing this?
More than 1,200 Sydney trees will be impacted to make way for the development of the 12 km stretch for Sydney’s CBD/South East Light Rail route.
The loss of some of Sydney’s most magnificent trees is not an environmental solution for a rapidly-growing city which is already is falling short on its future green needs – in fact it is just sheer madness.
Despite long-running criticisms and mounting opposition, this plan will mean the complete removal of 589 of the city’s ‘Significant Trees’.
In total, 871 ‘significant’ trees for the first stage of the route will be impacted by either complete removal/wood chipping, translocation and/or damaging root and canopy pruning.
A living ‘Avenue of Honour’
Lined by gargantuan Moreton Bay and Port Jackson Fig Trees, Anzac Parade’s trees are a stunning and awe-inspiring tract of trees renowned and revered both nationally and internationally. It is one of Australia’s oldest, longest and grandest avenues in the country.
Many of the most major specimens targeted were planted on Anzac Parade in honour of Australian diggers after World War I, and some date as far back as the mid-1800s.
Anzac Parade was named in honour of Australian troops who took the long march from the Kensington and Randwick army camps in the city’s eastern suburbs (now UNSW) in August 1914 to meet the troop boats that would take them off to war from Circular Quay.
Our city’s green lungs
The trees are an indelible symbol of our city which line the welcome entrance to the CBD and provide an array of benefits that make our cities liveable. These include clean air, amenity, biodiversity and cooling in hot temperatures. They provide shade to cyclists and pedestrians and are home to countless species of birds, insects and animals.
As journalist Elizabeth Farrelly so elegantly described: “What should be sacred – for their age, beauty, symbolism, irreplaceability, place making, carbon sequestration and staunch resistance of the heat island effect – are parks and trees. This is not soppy nostalgia.”
Trees and light rail should co-exist
Saving Sydneys Trees represents a growing community movement that says that this is a devastating and unnecessary reduction in mature trees and canopy that will impact our city, our community, native animals and future generations.
The current NSW State government approach goes against current international trends for urban greening strategies and will severely impact Sydney’s ability to reach the Australian collaborative 202020 Vision target to increase the amount of urban green space to 20% by 2020. In fact, this part of Sydney already sits below that at 15% (or lower) for urban green space, according to the national report Where Are All The Trees.
It is time for the government to “Press Pause” and find a better way to allow trees and light rail to happily co-exist.
A flawed process
Many trees have been already lost as a direct result of a little publicised route ‘modification’ which was exhibited for just two weeks in December 2014. This modification benefited private commercial interests, while eliminating a long stretch of heritage trees. Disturbingly, on the same day that the public exhibition closed, the light rail contract was awarded to the light rail consortium Altrac.
Sadly, the first many Sydney residents knew about this major plan change was when government contractors moved during the 2015 Christmas-NY holiday period and set about removing the first swathe of trees.
In the early hours of the morning, in the days just after NY, tree loppers started to fell trees on land managed by Centennial Parklands on Alison Road, Randwick. Despite efforts by residents who chained themselves to trees, as many as 50 trees were simply wood chipped. The land now left standing like a vast, barren wasteland. Around the same time, some of Sydney’s most historic trees were also felled on Anzac Parade.
While activists had been tying orange ribbons to the trees for several years ahead of this to educate and communicate the potential extent of the loss, the communications by the authorities have been largely limited to a few lines in public press statements while glossy pictures continued to show trees in the artist impressions.
To date, the government still refuses to provide the public with detailed information on which trees will be impacted and when.
It is only now as the trees start to disappear, that the wider community can see what is truly at stake.
The failure of current protections
Ironically, many of these majestic trees stand on Centennial Parks and Moore Park Trust Land which is a green belt of trees and parkland set aside for the city’s people.
What makes the situation even worse is that some century-old trees on Anzac Parade are to be destroyed merely to allow for the construction of a ‘temporary’ six-lane road diversion designed to reduce the construction time on the project. This is despite there being public land either side of the trees; land where the city’s former tram lines used to run until the 1960s.
The City of Sydney’s Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, has said both “the Centennial Park and Moore Park Trust has failed in its primary function to defend and protect the parklands”.
Revegetation will not replace what is lost
A slick PR offensive is communicating to Sydney that more trees will be planted than those removed. In its statements, the government continues to guarantee that any tree removed will be replaced with at least two new trees, while it will replace those deemed ‘significant’ with up to eight new ones.
But these new trees won't necessarily be in the same place nor the same species or size potential of what we already have.
Less than 50% of replanting will go along the light rail route with the balance of the plantings likely to be used in local council areas. Our research shows that the loss of much-needed urban canopies represents over 70,000 sqm.
Also missing is any firm detail by the authorities to properly plan for the retention of trees that are earmarked for ‘translocation’. Their fate remains unclear, with the loss of the many of the second row of Moreton Bay figs along Anzac Parade still pending.
In short, these magnificent trees are irreplaceable. A tree replacement program cannot stand up to what we already have.
Canopy loss and root pruning
For trees facing canopy and root pruning, the future prospects are also concerning.
Pruning and canopy destruction can be devastating to tree survival, as witnessed by the deaths of many historic trees that suffered the same fate during the construction of the Eastern Distributor. Not to mention is the significant loss of impact of these monumental trees for their cooling and strengths as a home to native animals and as the lungs of the city.
Despite ongoing requests, up-to-date full details of the tree loss, when and where exactly and the plans for canopy and root pruning is yet to be publicly revealed.
Why we need action
Already, the public and experts have voiced criticism and concerns against this tree loss - but the submissions, consultations and reports have fallen on deaf ears.
As a critical infrastructure project, the NSW Planning Minister has the ultimate say on the project. In the passage of time, this has included two other former ministers, Prue Goward and Brad Hazzard. In short, the Minister has the capacity to take action and make amendments – including decisions made by predecessors and consider alternative options.
An opportunity to save the historic trees opposite Randwick Racecourse that Randwick City Council put forward has now been lost, but we still have the opportunity to save the historic trees along Anzac Parade.
As a critical infrastructure project, legal action is limited other than with the Minister’s consent.
We are joining forces
After the initial shock of the loss of so many trees earlier this year, a movement began to form to oppose the tree loss. Saving Sydneys Trees formed to link concerned Sydneysiders, local residents and community groups with activist and environmental groups, and local governments, such as Randwick City Council. So too, state and national politicians are stepping into join this important fight. Our voice is not diminishing; our ground force is growing stronger.
Together, we are saying “No” to any further destruction of trees and any loss of public green spaces. What is clear is that what is happening in this area is also extending beyond to other areas of development across Sydney.
The revelation that a major archaeological find of Aboriginal artefacts on the route had not been fully disclosed to the public after they were unearthed in September 2015, adds weight to calls to “Press Pause”.
EVENT UPDATE: #SavingSydneysTrees Mega May Day Rally – Sunday, May 1 – 11am-12.30pm
Join us on Sunday, 1 May, when we hold the government to account for the planned destruction of hundreds of Sydney's most ‘Signficant Trees’.
Importantly, the rally is being held two days before the NSW Parliament resume on Tuesday, 3 May.
Speakers announced shortly. Bring a blanket and enjoy our city’s beautiful trees and parkland.
Please spread the word by letting your friends and networks know!
